‘Don’t lose sight of Ukraine,’ Nato chief tells European allies – as it happened

UK secretary of defense John Healey, Ukraine's defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov, German defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte attend the meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group at the Federal Ministry of Defense, Berlin. Photograph: Kay Nietfeld/AP

5.01pm BST

Closing summary

… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today!

• Hungarian election winner Péter Magyar has confirmed work is under way to form the new Hungarian government by mid-May after holding talks with the country’s president, Tamás Sulyok, a loyalist of the outgoing prime minister, Viktor Orbán (11:43).

• Magyar urged Sulyok to resign from the post or face legislative removal as part of a broader overhaul of Hungary’s democratic institutions after years of Orbán rule, which is also expected to include suspending state media news broadcasts (12:37 and 15:56)

• Meanwhile, the US president, Donald Trump, unexpectedly praised the incoming Hungarian prime minister saying “the new man is going to do a good job,” as he distances himself from Orbán, despite repeated support for him in the build up to the election (13:29).

Separately,

• Ukraine’s allies met in Berlin and online to discuss their continued support for Kyiv amid concerns that the Middle East conflict could affect the support for wartorn country (16:44).

• Top Nato, German, British and Italian leaders have pledged to continue their backing for Ukraine, with hopes that the change of government in Hungary could also unblock the EU’s planned loan for Kyiv (16:52, 16:56, 17:03, 17:10, 17:52).

If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected].

I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

4.52pm BST

Nato's Rutte 'optimistic' about alliance's plans to fund Ukraine's defence

Back to Berlin, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte expressed optimism that the alliance would successfully fund defence aid to Ukraine through the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) mechanism before the end of the year.

“I’m optimistic,” Rutte told reporters, while acknowledging that burden-sharing within the alliance remained uneven.

“A limited number of countries are doing the heavy lifting, but we are seeing change for the better.“

We have to make sure Ukraine has what it needs to stay in the fight. So there is broad agreement on that on both sides of the Atlantic.”